Every month, regardless of market conditions, the same pattern repeats itself. Millions of new tokens are released onto the market, potentially putting selling pressure on the price of the relevant cryptocurrency. Find out which token unlocks to watch in December to stay one step ahead.
The 5 Crypto Token Unlocks to Watch in December
While most altcoins have underperformed over the past 30 days, a well-oiled mechanism could exacerbate this trend: the infamous token unlocks.
Indeed, as is customary, millions of tokens will be released in December.
Although a token unlock does not necessarily mean a drop in the price of the asset in question, this event does, at the very least, contribute to an increase in supply relative to demand, which can result in selling pressure.
This month, there are several major token unlocks to be aware of and monitor, particularly for the ENA, APT, PUMP, STRK, and ASTER tokens:
Token unlocks to watch in December
Ethena (ENA)
- Amount: 94.19 million ENA tokens;
- Value: $23.37 million;
- Unlock date: December 2;
- Unlocked amount as a percentage of the circulating supply: 1.27%.
Ethena is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that offers an alternative to traditional stablecoins through a product called USDe, a “synthetic” stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Unlike reserve-backed stablecoins (such as USDT or USDC), USDe is kept stable through a hedging strategy based on crypto derivatives.
The ENA token is the governance token of the Ethena protocol. It allows holders to participate in decisions regarding the protocol’s development and to earn staking rewards.
Over the past 30 days, the price of the ENA token has fallen by approximately 30%. The project is struggling to recover from the liquidation event that occurred on October 10. Since that event (indicated by the white arrow on the chart), Ethena’s flagship product, USDe, has fallen by more than 50% in terms of market capitalization:
Chart showing the market capitalization of USDe (in purple), DAI (in yellow), and USDS (in blue)
On December 2, Ethena will release $94.19 million worth of ENA tokens, representing approximately $23.4 million, or 1.27% of its total market capitalization.
Aptos (APT)
- Quantity: 11.31 million APT tokens;
- Value: $22.02 million;
- Unlock date: December 12;
- Amount unlocked relative to circulating supply: 1.54%.
Aptos is a Layer 1 blockchain born from the ashes of Diem, a crypto project abandoned by Facebook (Meta) due to regulatory pressure. Based on the Move language, Aptos is an ultra-fast blockchain. It offers significantly lower transaction fees than the Ethereum blockchain, making it well-suited for the high-frequency trading sector.
Over the past 30 days, the price of the APT cryptocurrency has fallen by more than 39%. Although some on-chain metrics for the Aptos blockchain are relatively encouraging, selling pressure remains higher than demand, which automatically drives the price down.
Chart showing APT token unlocks
As we can see in the chart above, new APT tokens are entering the market every month, contributing to this imbalance between supply and demand. On December 12, 11.31 million APT tokens will be unlocked, representing over $22 million and 1.54% of its market capitalization.
Pump.fun (PUMP)
- Quantity: 10 billion PUMP tokens;
- Value: $30.08 million;
- Unlock date: December 14;
- Amount unlocked relative to circulating supply: 1.7%.
Pump.fun is a popular token launchpad platform—primarily for memecoins—on the Solana blockchain.
With the crypto market currently performing poorly, speculation—particularly on protocols like Pump.fun—is being affected. However, the project remains one of the most undervalued to date, given its Market Cap/Revenue (MC/R) ratio of 4.4.
In other words, the Pump.fun project injects approximately one-quarter of its market capitalization into the token each year through a buyback mechanism (purchasing tokens on the market). This mechanism, which is highly valued by investors, has the benefit of reducing supply, which can lead to price appreciation or, at the very least, mitigate the impact of token unlocks.
Chart showing the MC/R ratio of the PUMP token
On December 14, 10 billion PUMP tokens will be unlocked, representing over $30 million, or 1.7% of its market capitalization. Over the past 30 days, the price of the PUMP cryptocurrency has fallen by nearly 30%.
StarkNet (STARK)
- Amount: 127.6 million STRK tokens;
- Value: $16.02 million;
- Unlock date: December 15;
- Amount unlocked relative to circulating supply: 2.66%.
StarkNet is a scalability solution for the Ethereum blockchain, based on the Cairo language. The project also aims to expand into the Bitcoin ecosystem, particularly to develop Bitcoin finance (BTCFi).
StarkNet is one of those projects heavily overfunded by venture capital (VC) firms. During the project’s various funding rounds, more than $282.5 million was raised. That’s a hefty sum, which comes with its own set of trade-offs.
In fact, the STRK token is subject to high inflation due to the project’s monthly token unlocks, which creates a gap between the crypto’s market capitalization and its price. While the total market capitalization increases as unlocks occur, dilution automatically drives down the price of the STRK token:
Chart showing STRK’s market cap (in blue) and its price (in green)
On December 15, 127.6 million STRK tokens will be unlocked, representing over $16 million and 2.66% of its market capitalization. Over the past 30 days, the price of STRK has risen by 18%.
Aster
- Quantity: 78.41 million ASTER tokens;
- Value: $79.43 million;
- Unlock date: December 17;
- Amount unlocked relative to circulating supply: 3.89%.
Aster is a decentralized exchange (DEX) specializing in the trading of perpetual contracts (perps), but it also offers spot trading and tokenized stocks.
Publicly backed by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Aster has quickly established itself as a credible alternative to the industry leader, Hyperliquid.
Chart showing weekly trading volumes across various perps DEXs, with Aster (in yellow), Hyperliquid (in cyan), and Lighter (in white)
Driven by a wave of speculation surrounding its airdrop, Aster quickly captured significant market share from Hyperliquid. Since the hype has died down, Aster accounts for between 20% and 25% of total volume across all DEX perps.
By comparison, Hyperliquid now holds a similar market share.
On December 17, Aster will unlock 78.41 million tokens, representing $79.43 million and 3.89% of its market capitalization. Over the past 14 days, the price of the ASTER cryptocurrency has fallen by 20%.
Honorable Mentions
Other major token unlocks to watch in December include:
The Layer 1 blockchain Sei, which will unlock 95.15 million of its eponymous tokens on December 15, representing nearly $13.3 million and 1.49% of its market cap.
The Layer 2 blockchain Arbitrum, which will release 92.63 million ARB tokens on December 16, representing nearly $20.2 million, or 1.65% of its valuation.
Merlin Chain, a Layer 1 blockchain for Bitcoin, will release 36.14 million MERL tokens on December 19, representing $12.16 million and 3.32% of its market capitalization.
The LayerZero project will release 24.68 million ZRO tokens on December 20, representing $34.44 million, or 10.3% of its valuation.
The Humanity Protocol project will release 133.54 million H tokens on December 25, representing over $16.5 million, or 7.32% of its market capitalization.
The Layer 1 Plasma, which specializes in stablecoins, will release 88.88 million XPL tokens on the same day, representing nearly $16.5 million, or 4.94% of its valuation.
The Layer 2 protocol Optimism will release 32.21 million OP tokens on December 31, representing $10.38 million and 1.7% of its market capitalization.
